Fees & charges

Subscription fees from 1 July 2014

Note: Subscription fees rose by 1.2% from 1 July 2014. All subscriptions listed below are in Australian dollars and include GST. Invoices are sent out at the beginning of each financial year (in July). If you join part way through the year your subscription will be pro-rata'd eg. if you join in November then you will be charged for 7 months.

Individuals

Library consortia

Cross-sectoral library consortia are established for a variety of purposes including support for a single function such as interlibrary loan or creation of catalogue records, to share a library management system or service delivery platform. Any of these reasons may influence the subscription to Libraries Australia. Please refer to the Guidelines for determining subscription fees for cross-sectoral consortia (pdf, 76 KB) and contact the Help Desk to obtain further subscription information.

Library schools

Overseas agencies

Australian and other agencies overseas are encouraged to contact the Help Desk for a membership quote.

Public libraries

Each State and Territory has established a consortium or peak body to represent public libraries, and most oversee the implementation of Libraries Australia fees. While Libraries Australia calculates the total fee for each State and Territory, each public library consortium or peak body is able to interpret that fee on behalf of their members.

Public libraries subscriptions are based on Australian Bureau of Statistics' population figures and a fee of 4.45 cents per head of population. The population figures will be reviewed regularly.

Individual public libraries (excepting QLD) should confirm the subscription fee they are required to pay with their State or Territory consortium. QLD public libraries should contact the Help Desk for a membership quote.

School libraries

The subscription fee is set at $389.62 per year for all school libraries.

Special libraries

The special library sector includes federal, state and local government departments; the education sector; health service providers; the legal community and the corporate sector. The subscription fee for each library in this sector is recommended by Libraries Australia after information is supplied on request:

Special libraries that were members of Libraries Australia on or before 30 June 2013 have been placed into the above tiers according to their Budget or FTE as at 1 July 2012. Special libraries that become members of Libraries Australia after 30 June 2012 will be placed into the above tiers according to their Budget or FTE at the date of their application for membership. In either case, these tier placements will remain in place until the outcome of the next review of special library Budget and FTE data is implemented on 1 July 2016.

* Budget is the total budget of the combined library services which includes salaries, acquisitions, and all operating expenses (e.g. travel, training, advertising, consultants, office supplies and non-asset equipment); but not including the operational costs associated with the building (e.g. asset depreciation, electricity and other utility costs, building rental, cleaning).

^ FTE refers to the number of Full-Time Equivalent library staff.

State & territory libraries

The new model for State and Territory library subscriptions is based on Australian Bureau of Statistics' population figures, with a fee of 1.65 cents per head of population in each State or Territory. The population figures will be reviewed regularly.

TAFE libraries

Tier

Annual student contact hours per TAFE

Subscription fee

1

<500,000

$389.62

2

500,001 – 1,000,000

$890.56

3

1,000,001 – 4,000,000

$1,669.80

4

4,000,001 - 10,000,000

$3,896.20

5

10,000,000+

$6,679.20

All figures are in Australian dollars and include GST.

TAFE libraries that become members of Libraries Australia after 30 June 2010 will be placed into the above tiers according to their total student contact hours at the date of their application for membership. In either case, these tier placements will remain in place until the outcome of the next review of TAFE library subscriptions are implemented on 1 July 2015.

University libraries

In 2007, a new subscription model was introduced for all university libraries belonging to the Council of Australian University Libraries (CAUL). The model is based on the total budget of each library, published by CAUL.

The new model absorbed the fees charged by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) for access to its global union catalog WorldCat. WorldCat also provides access to records from the decommissioned RLIN catalogue and SCIPIO, both originally hosted by the Research Libraries Group (RLG).

The University Library model was reviewed during 2009/10, to confirm tier placements. Tier placements will remain in place until the outcome of the next review is implemented.

Vendors providing services to libraries

A new subscription model has been established for commercial agencies which use Libraries Australia to provide services to libraries. Vendors are encouraged to contact the Libraries Australia Help Desk for further details.

Core services included in the subscription fee

Unlimited searching of:

Australian National Bibliographic Database (including CJK and LA authorities)*

British Library catalogue

Chinese University of Hong Kong

CISTI

Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Library of Congress Catalogue

OCLC WorldCat (including RLG, SCIPIO & RLG Authorities)*

Research Libraries UK (RLUK)

Te Puna (New Zealand)*

*these targets have the separate search fee applied under the pay-per-search option.

Unlimited Libraries Australia Document Delivery use which includes:

Requesting/Supplying

LADD Payments Service (charges for the supply of copies and loans are not included)

Unlimited use of Libraries Australia Cataloguing which includes the following services:

Record Import Service, Web Cataloguing & the Cataloguing Client to contribute records/holdings to the ANBD.

Record Export Service to obtain records from the ANBD and other databases.

Collection analysis & research service charges

The Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD) is a rich source of data for collection analysis. For example, the data could be used for collection overlap studies or to analyse collection strengths/weaknesses in specified disciplines across a group of libraries. Libraries Australia is able to supply data (with limited tags) at a discounted charge of $0.11 per record for this purpose. Please contact the Help Desk to discuss your requirements.

Documentation

Libraries Australia Search Manual

$50.00

Libraries Australia Document Delivery Manual

$50.00

Libraries Australia Cataloguing Client Manual

$50.00

A discount of 10% will be offered when 10 or more copies of the same document are purchased at one time. All Libraries Australia documentation is also available without charge for downloading from the Libraries Australia web site.

New subscription model (background)

Since July 2007, charges for core Libraries Australia services have been moved to new subscription models. Each library sector has its own model.

The first subscription model, introduced on 1 July 2005, was derived from the now historical average usage-based payments for the calendar years 2003 and 2004. This arrangement was applied to all Australian libraries choosing to join Libraries Australia.

The new subscription models have been devised in consultation with representatives of the various library sectors and the Libraries Australia Advisory Committee. It was agreed that the models should:

be equitable for all Libraries Australia members

be transparent and consistently applied

remove the impediments to use created by transaction-based charges

maintain sufficient revenue to support Libraries Australia

be subject to periodic increases based on the Consumer Price Index

recognise that libraries and their users now gain value from Libraries Australia in new ways which can't be measured simply by transaction-based charges. Our Value Statement explains this in further detail.

Libraries Australia has applied a generous transition timeframe for the new models.